Starting in the middle of the 19th century the Austrian Consul established a private postal service called the Consul Post, which was used in addition to the French Post. The Ottoman authorities were often dissatisfied with the Consul Post’s services, so in 1864 Topal Osman-Pasha, a great Ottoman vizier in Bosnia, opened a state post office and telegraph station in a private house near Konak.
Austro-Hungarian Army’s entry into BiH
One of the last telegraphs received at the post office in Ottoman Sarajevo was from the Austro-Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andrássy, who announced the Austro-Hungarian Army’s entry into BiH.
After the Austro-Hungarians had annexed BiH, a military post was created in 1878 with head offices and branches (with relay stations) throughout the country, establishing regular postal connections between all parts of the Monarchy. During Austro-Hungarian rule, 150 postal stations were opened and BiH first became part of the Universal Postal Union in 1892 (and then again during the war in 1993).
The most important postal service building in BiH was the one in Sarajevo. The building’s construction was entrusted to the well-known architect, Josip Vancaš, who finished the project in 1911. The Sarajevo Post Office was built in the Secession style and was based on the Viennese Postal Savings Office (Postsparkasse) as designed by the famous architect, Otto Wagner.
Assasination of Franz Ferdinand
Sarajevo’s Main Post Office was opened on May 18, 1913. The official opening had been set for June of the following year, but it didn’t come to pass, for on June 28, 1914 a telegraph was sent from this office with news that the Austro-Hungarian heir, Franz Ferdinand, had been killed in Sarajevo.
However, the most terrible day in history for the post office was on May 2, 1992 when members of the Yugoslav National Army (JNA) created a diversion from within. Throughout the city 45,600 telephones went silent and the building’s interior went up in flames. The cost of damages totaled 144 million KM.
For some time after the war the Main Post Office stood on the bank of the Miljacka as a silent witness to the destruction of Sarajevo and in 1997 the director, Dino Mustafić, put on a performance of Molière’s Tartuffe in the building’s charred atrium.
Much to the delight of Sarajevans, the Main Post Office was restored to its original form with an official opening on May 3, 2001. The building’s centennial will be marked this year on May 18.
